Harry Reid slams President Obama judge pick Michael Boggs

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that one of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees does not deserve to be a federal judge, panning the White House’s vetting of Michael Boggs.

The Democratic leader on Thursday harshly criticized Boggs, whose nomination to a Georgia district court is deeply troubled because of his conservative positions as a state legislator on abortion, gay rights and the Confederate flag. Reid will not commit to having a confirmation vote on the Senate floor, a serious sign of the nomination’s distressed status.

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“I’m going to oppose him. Here’s a man who has been outspoken in denying equality for people to be married. He has been outspoken in trying to re-create the flag of the Rebels, the Confederates,” Reid said. “He’s a person who’s not — in my opinion — in the mainstream, and I don’t think he deserves to be a federal judge.”

Boggs is part of a delicately negotiated parcel of Georgia judges negotiated between the White House and Georgia GOP Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has committed to holding a committee vote on Boggs, but Reid would only say “we’ll see” about a floor vote.

Leahy said on Wednesday that the White House has not contacted him regarding Boggs’ nomination — and Reid piled on Thursday by positing that Boggs had not been thoroughly vetted for his position.

“I’ve told you how I feel about him. Somebody should have looked a little deeper into his record,” Reid said.

The uncertain future for Boggs comes as the White House tries to rally support around another controversial nominee, David Barron, who has drawn scrutiny from civil libertarians for penning a legal document on the drone strike on Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011.

Senate Democrats invited the White House’s legal team to brief uncertain Senate Democrats on Barron’s history in a classified setting on Thursday afternoon, though even before the briefing Barron had drawn support that Boggs lacks.

“I support Barron; I think that he’s a fine man, and I think that he didn’t do anything other than write a legal opinion,” Reid said.

Later on Thursday Reid set a vote on Barron for early next week and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has been highly critical of the administration’s drone policy, vowed to filibuster the nominee. An aide declined to say if that means a talking filibuster; Paul mounted a 12-hour filibuster of CIA Director John Brennan’s nomination over the drone policy in 2013.

“I’ve read David Barron’s memos concerning the legal justification for killing an American citizen overseas without a trial or legal representation, and I am not satisfied,” Paul said after reading classified Barron memos made available to the Senate. “There is no valid legal precedent to justify the killing of an American citizen not engaged in combat.”

Both Boggs and Barron have an easier path to confirmation than they would have had six months ago. Under a recent Senate rules change, each needs just a simple majority to break a filibuster and advance to an up-or-down vote.